Borrowed Time
by Pythian Raina
Summary: Every night Lee dies in his dreams, or are they much more than just dreams? AU that takes place during Home parts 1 and 2, and thus contains spoilers for those eps. Reviews make me happy.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; I just enjoy making them suffer

Notes: Takes place during "Home" Parts 1 and 2, but I've played around with the timeline.

Thanks to Ysrith for being my beta.

I have italicized both flashbacks and internal thoughts (as that's what gramatically correct), but if you can't tell which is which, please let me know and I'll figure out a way to differentiate the two for following parts.

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_I maneuver my Viper effortlessly through the narrow mountain pass, but suddenly a red light on my console signals trouble: fuel line breach. I press on, knowing in the back of my mind that I should stop and send a distress signal, but not caring. My brother is dead, and that thought drives me forward despite the instincts screaming for me to stop. However, the turbulence from the storm impedes my progress and my Viper is thrown around as fuel continues to seep out of the line. Then I hear an explosion and smoke fills the cockpit as something ignites the fuel. Suddenly I am in an uncontrolled plunge towards the rocky terrain below. I manage to get the craft into something resembling a glide before the smoke filling the cockpit blinds me. Now all I can do is brace for impact. Then my world is enveloped by flame. _

Lee Adama wakes with a start as he dies in his dreams yet again: the same vivid dream that has been haunting him for the last week or so. Why does he keep dreaming about that crash? It had been a bad one, which had resulted in him being lost in the wilds of Picon for almost two weeks, but it had been nothing compared to the ordeal of the last few months. Just mechanical failure, a freak accident, and an impromptu camping trip while waiting to be rescued. Terrifying at the time, yes, but looking back on it, he knows that it's not the stuff that nightmares are made of. He hadn't even thought much about it until recently, since his memories of that time had always been foggy: the results of a concussion, he believes.

_Why does the dream feel more real than a dream, while what really happened fades away like a dream in my memory?_

He staggers out of the uncomfortable bed and into the small, dirty washroom that is characteristic of a prison ship like the _Astral Queen. _They don't even have hot water, but that suits his mood just fine. He steps into the shower and turns the dial, welcoming the wakening shock of icy water hitting warm flesh.

_A ball of agony rolls through my body as I am crushed and broken by the impact. Then all is darkness. _

The vivid vision causes him to gasp in shock, hands slipping on the slick, dirty white tiles in front of him as he leans heavily into the spray. It's only a residual dream haunting his waking hours, he tells himself, but yet it's so vivid that he can almost feel the impact, the warm metal slicing into his skin.

As he steps out of the shower and dresses, he can't shake the feeling that the dreams mean something; that they're more than just dreams. But what are they?

He slowly walks down drab, dimly-lit halls. He knows that he's late for a meeting, but he can't bring himself to care as he ponders the meaning of his dreams. He's not a religious man, but he can't help but wonder what they mean.

_Are they a warning or a prophecy? _

_Is Zak trying to tell me something by making me relive some weird, alternate version of _his _death? _

The rational part of his mind tells him that the dreams don't mean anything, that they're merely a projection of what's going on in his subconscious. He still hasn't reconciled himself with what happened to Zak, and these dreams are just a reflection of that, brought on by the emotional strain of recent events.

_I must finally be just losing it. _

--------------------------------------

"_People have been divided. They're separated from their parents." _

Bill Adama sits at his cluttered desk, halfheartedly working on the ship model in front of him. Books haphazardly stacked everywhere reflect the emotional turmoil raging within his apparently calm exterior. Even now, hours after that conversation, Dee's words still echo in his ears. Lee's betrayal still stings, but even as he feels a surge of anger towards his wayward son, he can't help but remember the time when he thought he had lost him for good.

_I stare in horror as _Colonial One _is destroyed by a nuclear detonation. Lee. He's gone, and he'll never know how much I loved him; our last words to each other were spoken in anger and as Commander and Captain, not as father and son. His loss is almost too much to bear, but I have to be strong; I have to honour my son's memory by avenging him. _

He gets up from his desk, wincing as some residual pain from his wound flares through his torso. But that doesn't stop his determination to get his son back.

_I won't lose him again. _

--------------------------------------

Eyebrows raise as Lee walks into the storage room of the _Astral Queen _uncharacteristically late. It has been temporarily converted into a planning room, with a large and battered metal table occupying most of the small space. President Roslin is sitting at the head of the table staring intently at the map of Kobol spread out before them while Kara pauses in the middle of whatever she was saying.

"Lee, you look like hell."

"Thanks Kara," he mutters, squeezing around the perimeter of the table and taking the last empty seat, next to a handcuffed Sharon. He doesn't bother looking at the Cylon to his right as he sits down.

"Alright, just to get you caught up on what you missed while you were enjoying your beauty sleep, Sharon has told us where the Tomb is, but that area's too rocky to set a shuttle down on. The closest we can do is a spot about 10 km away." Kara gestures at a mountainous location in the northern section of the map.

"We took out the basestar, but are there any Cylons left on the surface?" Lee inquires, finally looking at Sharon

"Hundreds. But the planet's large enough that they'll be fairly spread out."

Lee nods as he stares intently at the map, working out a plan.

"This will be difficult, which makes me hesitant to bring civilians along," he mutters, glancing to his left at President Roslin.

"I am going along on this mission; I am obligated as the President of the Twelve Colonies to see this through to the end, Captain Apollo."

"But with all due respect, Madam President, it'll be difficult enough for trained soldiers to avoid the Cylon patrols and reach the Tomb, let alone for civilians untrained in combat situations," he objects apologetically.

Before they can finish their discussion, Zarek walks into the room.

"Zeus is coming."

--------------------------------------

Adama steps out of the Raptor and into the small landing bay of the _Astral Queen. _It is very dim in here, with many of the lights broken, which makes the atmosphere very forbidding. But Adama is going to his son, which is all that matters to him. He quickly goes down the dark corridor and into the reception room. It isn't lit any better, but he instantly recognizes Lee standing in the middle of a small group. As he gets closer, he can see that the group consists of President Laura Roslin, Billy Keikeya, Priestess Elosha, Kara Thrace, and Tom Zarek, who steps forward to welcome him. Then President Roslin steps forward.

"Commander."

There is some uncertainty in her eyes as she greets him.

"Madam President," he acknowledges.

Formalities over, he turns his attention to Lee, who hesitantly steps forward, an uncertain expression on his face as he's not sure if he's greeting the father he abandoned or the commander he betrayed.

"Son." Adama speaks first, tears glistening in his eyes as he pulls his son in for a hug. This time, unlike the last time they had hugged, Lee doesn't hesitate to wrap his arms around his father.

"Dad."

They part slowly, reluctantly, knowing that there is a small group of people watching and waiting. Suddenly, they are once again made aware of the space between them – not just the physical space, but the emotional wounds that time has not healed. But despite that, they finally realize how deep the bonds of parent to child really go.

As he parts from his son, Adama smiles and gives Kara a quick pat on the shoulder.

"Good to see you sir." She grins.

"Good to see you too Kara, and the rest of you as well," he amends, glancing at the rest of the group. Then his gaze falls on President Roslin.

"We have things that we need to discuss."

--------------------------------------

_A ball of agony rolls through my body as I am crushed and broken by the impact. Then all is darkness. When I regain consciousness several minutes later, I can feel flames looming behind me. I ignore the agony coursing through my body as I attempt to eject. I finally manage to grab the ejection handle and pull it, sending a wave of intense pain through my broken arm, but it's jammed. By now the cockpit is shrouded in black smoke, and I also know that I've broken other bones as well. The flames are all around me now and I can feel the intense heat through my flightsuit. _

"Lee! Lee!"

As he wakes up, it takes him several seconds to realize that he's in his bunk on _Galactica, _and that Kara's shaking him.

"What the frak did you do that for?" he mutters groggily.

"Well for starters, you were tossing around, muttering, and making so much noise that I decided to do a public service to all the sleeping pilots and shut you up. And secondly, Dr. Baltar's finished jabbing me with needles, so now it's your turn," she says as she pulls off her flightsuit and sprawls into the bunk across from his.

"Great…" he groans as he drags himself out of bed and quickly rummages through his few belongings for a clean uniform. As he dresses at his locker, he can't help but catch a reflection of himself in the mirror and is struck by how large the circles under his eyes are, how thin his face looks.

_Gods I look like death warmed over. Guess that's what happens when you die every time you go to sleep. _

He shuts the door softly as he exits the room and walks out into the crowded hallway. He can't help but feel like everyone's watching him, because he knows that until the results of the Cylon detection test that had been ordered for all key personnel who had fled to the _Astral Queen _come back negative, there's still some suspicion surrounding him and the others. But consciously he knows that he's just imagining things, that the people who are saluting him are just happy to have their CAG back. Even then, he can't wait until the test is done and over with.

_Then I can get a clean bill and get on with my life, frakked up as it is. But why do I get the feeling that this won't be over so fast? _

--------------------------------------

Adama wakes up to the sound of insistent knocking on his door. He reluctantly throws on a robe and quickly goes to answer the door, knowing that whatever it is must be important, to warrant getting their Commander out of bed.

"Come in, Saul."

Tigh walks slowly into his quarters. Adama's never seen him like this before, not even after the end of the world. There is something in his eyes: a mixture of horror, sorrow, and pity. He knows immediately that something's wrong, very wrong.

"What is it?"

In response, he's handed a stack of papers: the results of the Cylon detection tests. He glances at the results and quickly spots the one "positive" in the column. With a growing sense of dread, his eyes look at the name beside the condemning positive result.

It reads: Adama, Lee.

The papers flutter to the floor as the man sinks into a chair.


	2. Chapter 2

"There must be a mistake, or someone tampered with the results."

"Madam President, I ran the test against a control over fifty times. And a mass spectrometry as sensitive as this one takes a considerable amount of time and resources, I might add," Dr. Baltar explains as he stands at the head of the long table in _Galactica's_ conference room, "and I also did a blind test, so _I_ didn't even know which sample was whose and was even _supervised_ to make sure that I didn't tamper with the results, not that I would…and quite frankly I'm insulted that you would even consider it, considering that..."

"I supervised the procedures, and there's no doubt about it, the man that we thought was Lee Adama is a Cylon," Dr. Cottle interjects sombrely, before Dr. Baltar can continue.

"That's frakking bullshit and you know it. He's saved our asses more times than I can count, and he's your son for fraks sake!" Kara looks pointedly at Adama, who just sits there, staring into space with the vacant look of a man who has lost everything.

"Sir?"

"We need to find out what vital information he's given the Cylons. Sgt. Hadrian will conduct the interrogation," Adama finally says, nodding at the woman seated at the end of the table.

"I must stress the need for secrecy here," President Roslin calmly points out as she quickly comes to terms with this revelation. "It would be shattering to the morale of the fleet if they find out that yet another member of the _Galactica's _crew is a Cylon agent, especially one held in such high regard as this one."

"Agreed. That's why the knowledge will be limited to the people in this room, a few marines, and the few deckhands who will build him a cell next to the other Cylon. Dismissed."

--------------------------------------

_No! It can't be true. I'm Lee Adama, son of William and Caroline Adama. I was raised on Caprica. I'm a loyal member of the Colonial Fleet. I can't be one of _them.

He resists when they come for him, struggling as they attempt to put the cuffs on him. Then something cold and metal hits the back of his head and the word goes black.

Kara hides in the shadows of the deserted hallway and watches the guards drag him past. Then she slumps down in the shadow of the bulkhead and finds herself thinking about everything that they've been through together since the end of the world and wonders how a toaster could have been right under her nose, so close to her, without her knowing or even suspecting a thing.

_I'm such a frakking idiot. Gods I am such a frakking idiot! Two toasters right under my nose and I never suspected either of them. Are there still toasters who are close to me, preying on the fact that Kara Thrace is a chump? _

_Could Zak have been one of them too? _

She slowly stands and wanders back to her locker and stash of ambrosia. She had been saving it for a special occasion, and she figures that this is "special" enough; just not the kind of special that she'd been intending. But alcohol can numb all the pain and wash away all the fears and questions circling through her mind. And that is what Kara needs right now, if only for a few hours.

Oblivion has never looked so welcoming.

--------------------------------------

He sits in a void, unsure of his fate and his very identity itself.

He sits on the cold, dirty floor of the brig, cradling his broken hand.

He sits bloody and beaten, dried blood caked on the side of his head, nose and fingers broken: those had been the results of Sgt. Hadrian's attempts to get him to reveal his mission. But he couldn't tell her what he didn't know. She had first tried punching his face repeatedly, and when that hadn't worked, she had resorted to dunking his head underwater. Then she had broken all of the fingers on his left hand, slowly and agonizingly, a method which would have worked if he'd actually known anything. But he didn't, and still doesn't, know anything. As far as he knows, he's the real Lee Adama. But that doesn't stop his rational mind from considering the possibilities that he still can't accept.

_Why do I get these memories that aren't mine? These memories that are more like flashbacks than anything else? Are they the memories of another copy of me that died and downloaded into my consciousness? No! It can't be true. I am the only one, the only _human _known as Lee Adama. I can't be a Cylon; I couldn't betray my people like that. _

He finds himself analyzing everything he's done, searching for any signs of betrayal, anything that might be tucked away in a distant corner of his memory. He feels his heart beat, his _human_ heart, and can't help but wonder if it's actually a machine like the rest of him.

_I killed over 1000 people. Cylons kill people. _

_I had to for the survival of the human race. I saved tens of thousands of people by doing that. _

Beat.

_Boomer found the Tylium, and she's a Cylon. Then I was the one who blew up the mining operation. The Cylons wanted us to have the Tylium, and they used me and Boomer to get it. _

_No. Boomer wasn't active then. The Cylons didn't want us to find the Tylium. We acted of our own free will, as humans. _

Beat.

_I committed mutiny, escaped, and sowed dissension in the fleet. That's something that Cylons do. _

_No. I had to, because the principles which hold the human race together in harmony were being violated. I did it_ for _the fleet because it was the right thing to do. _

Beat.


	3. Chapter 3

He's been in the brig without human contact for what must have been around a week when the guards come and take him away. The halls are devoid of people, as President Roslin and Adama try to prevent anyone else in the fleet from finding out about his disgrace or even taking action against him like they did with Boomer. He shuffles down familiar halls in an unfamiliar state, not even knowing if he's going to his death.

They finally reach their destination, an old and out of the way storage room. But now it's used for storing people – Cylons – instead of supplies. The guards unlock his restraints and roughly push him into one of the cells. Then they securely lock him into what will be his new home for an indeterminate amount of time.

After the guards leave, he looks around at his surroundings. It is securely boxed in on all sides by sterile grey walls, bulletproof glass and wire mesh. A small bed sits against one wall, a sink and toilet against the other. He spots Sharon peering at him through the divide between their cells with an expression that looks almost like pity. But she doesn't look the least bit surprised to see him here.

"How's this for irony?" She looks slightly amused now.

"You knew." He walks over to the glass and wire separating them, raising his voice slightly to be heard through the barrier.

"Yes I did," she admits reluctantly.

"Why didn't you tell me? Or anyone else?" He raises his voice to a shout, causing her to wince slightly as she replies.

"What would have been the point in that? No one would have believed me, and it would only have made things worse for me and my child," she points out coldly, and he hates her because he knows it's true.

"And," she adds, expression softening, "you shouldn't have to go through something like this."

"Well it's great to know that you care so much about me and all, but you still could have said something. Anything! You could have prevented me from betraying my own people!"

"Don't worry, Apollo, you haven't betrayed them. You haven't had a chance to fulfill your purpose yet, and I was going to make sure that you never got that chance. I hadn't figured out how, but I would have made sure that it didn't happen."

"And what the frak would my purpose happen to be?"

"To fulfill the prophecy."

"Right," he scoffs angrily. "And how am I supposed to do that?"

"The Delphic Scroll says that 'The Archer will shoot the Arrow into the Tomb and point the way to the Promised Land.' There's also some other stuff in there about the identity of the Archer, and we figured out that it was you. It had to be you."

"So some obscure and barely coherent scroll that even our greatest priests can't figure out apparently says that I'm some chosen one, so that justifies killing an innocent man!"

"We didn't kill the original Lee Adama," she shoots back defensively.

"And why should I believe you? You're a Cylon. You all lie."

"Because it's true and somewhere, deep down, you know it. Go ahead and think I'm out to get revenge on you for trying to kill me. But you know what? The truth is much bigger than me or you or your petty little grudge. It all works into God's plan. All except the accidental death of the real Lee Adama."

"He died in a flight accident, didn't he?" he gasps, realization dawning.

"You shouldn't remember that." She frowns.

"I do. Remember some of it at least. Or at least I think I remember. What really happened?"

Her voice takes on a detached, distant quality as she continues, as if she's recalling the information from somewhere deep within her mind. "The Cylons had figured out your role in the prophecy and had been watching your original for some time, trying to figure out how to get you to Kobol and insert the Arrow of Apollo into the Tomb of Athena. The Cylons want to find Earth because they want to see if the humans there also worship your false idols, or if they've embraced God's love. Call it scientific curiosity, call it God's plan, or call it whatever you want. Anyway, they were watching him – you – when you took a Viper out for a practice run."

_I glide through Picon's cloudy atmosphere; rain splatters against the canopy and wind roars against the side of my Viper, the turbulence surrounding my ship mirroring the turbulence surrounding my soul. _

"Something happened - some kind of freak mechanical malfunction."

_I hear an explosion and smoke fills the cockpit as something ignites the fuel. Suddenly I am in an uncontrolled plunge towards the rocky terrain below. _

"You crashed badly, and your ship was on fire."

_The flames are all around me now and I can feel the intense heat through my flightsuit. _

"They could see you struggling to get out, and they tried to reach you."

_I can't panic: I must stay calm, free myself from my seat, and open the canopy. _

_But it hurts so much. _

_Zak wouldn't want me to give up like this. _

"But the flames all around your ship were too hot, even for them."

_I let that thought focus me as I fumble with the seatbelt. But it won't budge and I can't reach my pocketknife. It is with startling clarity that I realize I'm going to die in a flight accident, just like my brother. The irony would make me laugh if I weren't in so much pain. _

"They eventually did manage to get you out, but you were in pretty rough shape."

_I guess I'll be seeing you soon, bro. _

_Those are my last thoughts as my world is enveloped by flame and darkness. _

"They took you back to one of our facilities and tried to revive you, but the physical trauma was too much and you died there."

He slumps to the cold floor, tears gathering in his eyes as everything comes rushing back to him in a torrent of painful memories.

Sharon pauses then, looking with something approaching sympathy at the man who had tried to kill her repeatedly in the previous week, but now sits battered and broken on the floor.

"Continue. I need to know everything," he mutters, almost too softly for her to hear.

"They needed you alive to fulfill your role in the prophecy, so they tried to duplicate you. Duplication of a real human being had never been done before and, as far as I know, hasn't been done since, but they tried it with you and it worked. Through some miracle of God, it worked."

"Why haven't I betrayed the humans, caused the destruction of the fleet and escaped in my Viper?" he inquires, voice raw with barely suppressed emotion.

"They could have programmed you that way, but in order to keep the conditions of the prophecy as accurate as possible, they wanted to make you as close a copy of the original as they could. They were afraid that if they'd programmed you to outright sabotage the humans and escape to the nearest Basestar, it would be too much of a contradiction to your original personality and therefore render your role in the prophecy void. So they went about it in a more indirect way: they've been guiding the fleet to Kobol by staging carefully planned attacks and using the Sharon that was on the _Galactica._You would have ended up going on any mission to Kobol, and once there, the Centurions would have made sure that everyone except you were dead. Then they programmed in a compulsion to make you finish the mission even though your comrades were all dead, and to make you more… open… to revealing the information once captured and tortured. And after that, I'm not sure; that's all I know."

Sensing his need for privacy, she turns away from the wall dividing them.

Now that he knows the truth, he curls up on the floor, lost in a whirlpool of jumbled emotion.

_So I died. In an stupid, senseless accident. _

_So I am a machine. A soulless machine. _

_Hermes, please guide the soul of Lee Adama – the _real _Lee Adama – to the Gates of Hades, and may Hades receive him. _

_I should have known that the dreams meant something. I should have realized that it shouldn't have taken the search parties that long to find me in such a small area after I crashed. I should have known that something was wrong and done something. Anything. _

_Oh frak. My Dad and Kara. They've lost both me and Zak. I hope they'll be ok. At least they have each other. _

_I'm dead, yet I'm also alive and breathing. What an odd dichotomy… _

_Oh Gods… Why? _


	4. Chapter 4

Kara stands at the podium in the Ready Room, giving her daily briefing. Usually she would hate the boring drudgery of hours spent writing up schedules and reports, and then yet even more time spent talking about them. She normally would have given it a half-assed effort and left it at that, but now, keeping busy is a preferable alternative to thinking about other things.

She finishes her very thorough and professional briefing and nods to Hotdog when he indicates that he has a question.

"Where's Apollo been? We know that it's classified and all, but is he on a top-secret mission or what?"

"If you already know it's classified, then why are you asking?" She silently congratulates herself on keeping her voice perfectly steady.

"And what's up with you?" Kat chimes in. "You've been so professional lately." Then she cringes at the implied insult.

But Kara doesn't even notice, or if she does, she doesn't care. She's got much bigger things occupying her mind at the moment.

She ends the briefing before her emotions get the better of her.

"Dismissed."

--------------------------------------

President Roslin, Adama, Tigh, and Elosha sit in one of _Galactica's _planning rooms.

"Are you crazy? Wanting to bring a bunch of civvies on a military op. Haven't you done enough damage already?" Tigh grumbles, glaring at President Roslin.

"As the President of the Colonies, I am going on this mission." Laura Roslin's voice leaves no room for argument.

"And," she adds, "we need to bring Elosha along in order to find the Tomb. She's gone over the Scriptures extensively with Sharon, and they've figured out approximately where it is. But we still need her expertise along to guide us."

Tigh just balks incredulously as Adama considers this.

"If we bring an additional six marines, that should be enough to guard them."

"Have you lost your frakking mind, Bill?" Tigh demands.

"I don't like it either, Saul, but she's right."

"Next thing you know, she'll be telling us that she wants to bring the two Cylons along as well."

"Actually, I was just about to bring that up," President Roslin admits sheepishly, glancing at Elosha.

"'The Archer will shoot the Arrow into the Tomb and point the way to the Promised Land,'" she quotes. "It's from the Delphic Scroll, and I've discussed that passage extensively with Sharon. We both agree that the Archer is Lee Adama, or at least the Cylon copy of him."

"You want me to take a Cylon on an already dangerous mission on the word of another Cylon?" This time it's Adama's turn to look incredulous as Tigh just stares.

"Commander, the Scriptures have been accurate so far. And the Scriptures say that we need the Archer to open the Tomb of Athena and point the way to Earth. If we want to find Earth and save what remains of humanity, we must do what the Scriptures say," President Roslin points out logically.

"What do we have, if not faith and hope?" Elosha points out.

"We've gone this far on faith, I suppose. Might as well go all the way," Adama concedes.

"You might as well be handing us to the Cylons on a platter! Bringing a bunch of civvies _and_ a Cylon," Tigh points out.

"We'll make sure that he's watched carefully at all times, and that he's shackled. There's not much he can do with a gun trained on him, shackles, and a broken hand."

Tigh just shakes his head.

"Thank you, Commander." President Roslin smiles faintly.

"Don't thank me yet. We still have to get this op planned and completed. Pre-mission brief begins at 0800. Thank you all."

--------------------------------------

They step out of the Raptor and onto the lush green grass of Kobol. The air is still, too still, as if all other living creatures have gone into hiding. That, combined with the fog, lends the meadow a sinister feeling. But despite this, Lee pauses and takes a deep breath, savouring the first taste of fresh air that he's had in months.

"Move." The marine behind him shoves him roughly with the point of his gun and he stumbles out of the Raptor and onto the lush grass. He wants so badly to reach down and touch the grass, real grass, but his hands – the left broken and bandaged - are securely fastened in heavy-duty cuffs and the two marines behind him have their guns trained on his back.

Kara follows behind him, trying her hardest not to look at the spectre of her dead friend. Instead, she looks up at the sky and down at the earth, savouring the smells of a truly living planet for the first time in months.

Adama steps slowly out of the Raptor, not even noticing the world around him. Instead, all of his attention is focused on his son, or at least the Cylon masquerading as his son. He's torn between wanting to grab his gun and shoot him, or wanting to tell him everything that he had never told Lee while he was actually alive. He had been furious at the Cylons – at this Cylon – for killing his son, but then he had found out that Lee had died in a flight accident, just like his brother, all because he had pushed them to become pilots. All because of him.

_I want to make things right with him. But he's not really my son, or is he? My son died two years ago, but the Cylon believes that he's my son, and has all of his memories. If I make things right with him, will I be honouring or dishonouring my son's memory? What would Lee think?_

Behind him, Elosha, President Roslin, Billy, and six more marines all slowly file out of the Raptor, pausing to smell the fresh air and gaze at the sky. After briefly enjoying the scenery, they all quickly file into formation and focus on the task at hand.

The beginning of the trek, before they get into the mountains, is relatively easy. Rain has just fallen, so the grass squelches under their feet as they walk, but aside from that, there are no other sounds.

Adama breaks the silence when he falls into step behind Lee and speaks to him for the first time since the truth came out.

"He died hating me," he states, knowing it as truth.

"Yes. But I don't hate you, for all it's worth." He looks at Adama as he says this, searching his face for a sign of acknowledgement.

"It's worth something, I suppose," Adama admits before he quickly turns and moves away.

They soon reach the base of the hills, then stop to rest before they tackle the rugged, slippery terrain.

As Lee sits down on a relatively flat rock, with a marine hovering nearby, Kara approaches. At a gesture from her, the marine reluctantly moves out of hearing range, allowing them some privacy.

"So I lost both of the men I love in flight accidents, within weeks of each other. The Gods must have a twisted sense of humour." She looks down at her hands, and the ring on her thumb.

"I suppose."

_So she loved him. I wonder if she loves me now, or just sees me as a mockery of the person she _did _love._

"How much do you remember? I mean, I read in the briefing notes that you remember everything: his childhood, academy exploits, and all that. But what about the feelings and stuff?"

"I remember everything. I remember how jealous I was when I found out that you were engaged to Zak, and how much it hurt when Zak died. I know that I actually didn't feel any of that, but it feels like I did. If that makes any sense; I'm still trying to make sense of it myself, having these memories and this identity that's not really mine."

"Yeah I suppose it does, in a mildly creepy kind of way." She smiles faintly, trying to mask her unease.

Suddenly, their peaceful reprieve is interrupted by a spray of bullets and gasps of pain as two marines are efficiently gunned down by a group of Cylons up in the hills. Then chaos erupts.

"Take cover!"

"Frak! Where's my gun?"

"Elosha, watch out!"

Elosha gasps and goes down as a bullet takes her in the chest.

"Run!" Billy grabs President Roslin from where she stands, momentarily frozen over the body of the priestess. They dive for cover under some heavy brush, the sounds of gunfire and shouting erupting all around them.

"Ammo!"

"You go, I'll cover!"

"Move!"

"Get down!"

Meanwhile, Lee hides under a ledge, wanting to grab a gun and help, but unable to move his good hand, which is trapped in the cuffs. Suddenly, he spots a Cylon aiming at President Roslin.

"Madam President!"

Lee can only shout futiley as a bullet speeds towards her, then Billy dives on top of her, pushing her out of harm's way and gasping as the bullet hits him in the side.

Four more marines are killed before the gunfire finally stops. Then it is quiet once more.

In the aftermath of the chaos, no one notices as Lee pockets the keys and a gun off of one of the dead marines.

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Adama gently pulls Billy's body off of President Roslin, who is frozen in a mask of terror and grief.

"'And Zeus warned the leaders of the twelve tribes that any return to Kobol would exact a price in blood,'" she quotes, voice trembling even as she tries to be strong.

The bodies of Elosha, Billy, and six marines are laid out and temporarily covered.

"We'll come back for them later and then give them a proper funeral aboard _Galactica._ We leave no one behind." Adama places his hand on Laura Roslin's shoulder, squeezing reassuringly as she struggles to hold it together.

"Is the cost worth it?" she asks no one in particular.

"Only time will tell," Adama says as he moves away to start the climb up into the rugged terrain.

Lee trails along behind the main group, two new guards at his back. He thinks that he should be more upset over so many deaths, but his mind is oddly blank.

The rain falls steadily, and soon they are all soaking wet, chilled to the bone, and panting heavily from the rough climb. Losing many of their comrades has also taken its toll on everyone, reflected by the fact that they are only talking when necessary.

Hours later, they arrive at a plateau in the hills, where a large rocky out-crop looms in front of them. Stepping closer, Adama can see a door in the mossy rock face.

"Is this it?"

"I think so," President Roslin confirms, glancing at her wet copy of the Book of Pythia.

"I can't find the frakking keyhole, because having an obvious keyhole would just be too logical, wouldn't it?" Kara grumbles in frustration after several minutes of trying to find somewhere to insert the Arrow.

"Has anyone tried just pushing?" President Roslin helpfully inquires.

Why don't we just try then? Reynolds, Frye, come here." Adama and the two marines position themselves to shoulder the door open. The men throw their weight against the door and, to their surprise, it slowly slides open, revealing a large chamber within.

"So if the Arrow didn't open the Tomb, what does it do?" Kara wonders.

"The Scriptures say that you need the Arrow to find the map." President Roslin walks in behind Kara.

As they all walk into the Tomb of Athena, they can make out a ring of broken statues within.

"I recognize the statues. There's Aerilon the Ram, Picon the Fish: these are the icons of the Twelve Tribes. This is the Birthplace of the Colonies." Kara reverently touches the statues.

Everyone is too busy gazing at the statues to notice Lee take the set of keys out of his pocket.

"Sagittaron the Archer. And he's missing something." President Roslin points to the statue of the archer, bow drawn but empty.

Kara steps forward and places the Arrow into the upraised bow, and suddenly they are plunged into darkness.

Then they are standing in a grassy field. Adama, Kara, Reynolds, and Frye all whip around, guns drawn defensively, but they are alone in the starlit field.

"Where the frak are we?"

"We must still be in the Tomb of Athena." President Roslin gazes around in wonder, noticing the large megaliths looming before them. "These patterns on the rocks were on the original flags of the Twelve Colonies, back when they were still called by their ancient names: Aries, Pisces, Cancer…." She turns around the circle, naming them all in succession.

"This is the map to Earth," Adama realizes. "But which constellation is Earth in?"

"We're standing on it," Kara whispers, face glowing with amazement. "The Scriptures say that when the thirteenth tribe landed on Earth, they looked up into the heavens and saw their twelve brothers."

"But where can you look into the sky and see all of these constellations?" President Roslin inquires as she gazes up at the sky.

"I don't know," Kara concedes sadly.

"I recognize that nebula in Scorpio, it's astral body M8, but it's a long way from here." Adama points to the Scorpio constellation.

As everyone smiles in the realization that they now have a direction to go in, Lee just stares intently at the sky.

"Now how do we get out of here?" Kara wonders.

"That's a good question," Adama mutters as he stares up at the nebula.

Then suddenly they are back in the circle of statues in the Tomb.

Before anyone can react, Reynolds and Frye are shot down in quick succession and Adama finds himself staring down the barrel of Lee's gun.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note: I'm sorry that it's taken so long since the previous parts. I outlined the last part, then hit writer's block! I managed to get going enough to get it done, and while I think it's too brief, I just can't come up with any more than what I've got; it's been sitting on my harddrive without me adding to it for months. So I might as well just post it before I forget about it completely. Hope you enjoy the (long overdue) conclusion to my story!

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Lee's hand trembles as he points the gun at his father.

_No. I can't do this._

But he can't put his arm down.

Adama stares evenly at him, eyes daring him to take the shot.

Kara and President Roslin stand frozen, not wanting to break the stalemate.

"Lee, don't do this," Kara finally says.

He doesn't want to do it, but there is something which sounds almost like a ringing in his ear, which then loudens into white noise. It pushes on his own thoughts, drowning out everything except for a single distinct voice, which forcefully says, over and over, _shoot him_.

"No," he whispers as his finger slowly tightens on the trigger.

Sweat beads on his furrowed brow as his face reflects his internal battle. He fights against the command with all his willpower, and his finger slowly begins to relax on the trigger.

_Apollo. Take your destiny._

This voice seems to come from outside of him, not from inside like the other. He suddenly spots a Sharon model slowly coming out of the shadows. No one else notices her.

_Finish them off and take your destiny,_ she says, her voice only audible to him.

_No. I won't do this. I can't do this._

His hand trembles.

A single shot rings in the air.

Sharon crumbles to the ground as everyone turns around in surprise.

Lee drops his gun, hand trembling.

"Son?" Adama asks, stepping forward hesitantly.

Suddenly, everyone dives for cover as several shots ring through the air and two Centurions burst into the room.

They shoot wildly and indiscriminately as Kara, Adama, and Lee return fire from behind the cover of the statues.

Kara jumps up and fires wildly at the Centurion standing on the left, managing to score a few good hits, but it still keeps firing.

"Frak! These things won't just lay down and die!"

Lee stands up from behind his statue, managing to hit the Centurion squarely in its red eye. It finally goes down as Lee dives back behind cover.

"Thanks!" Adama shouts as him and Kara take out the second Centurion.

In the silent aftermath of the battle, Kara notices that Lee hasn't come out from under his cover.

"Lee? Battle's over."

Kara, Adama, and Roslin all walk over to the statue that Lee is hiding behind, and they find him lying on the cold stone floor, bleeding from a chest wound.

"Oh. Frak."

Adama and Kara bend over him as the life bleeds out of him.

"I'm sorry," he gasps.

"Frak I can't lose you. Not again. Don't you dare die on me!" Kara yells at him in desperation.

"I died two years ago, Kara. I've been living on borrowed time since then."

"No," she whispers, tears welling in her eyes.

"I'm proud of you, son," Adama says gently.

"I love you both, and I'm sorry," he says.

Then, for the second time in two years, Lee Adama dies.

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Lee's given full military honours along with the dead marines. Adama had decided to do this despite his being a Cylon to keep the Fleet from finding out about the infiltration. At least that's how he justified it to everyone who knows the truth. But deep down, he knows that this is also the closest that he'll ever come to honouring his real son.

"These men died bravely in service to the Fleet, so that we may one day find Earth. Will we all survive to see it? No, we won't. But the sacrifices of our fallen comrades will make sure that humanity has a future. Will it be easy? No; it will be long, difficult, and we will lose many more brothers and sisters along the way. But we shall find it, in honour of our fallen family members. We shall find it and make a new home."

As the coffins go out the airlock, he salutes both the son who died hating him two years ago and the Cylon who replaced him and eventually learned to love his father.

_Goodbye, son._

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Adama and Kara sit in his office, drinking to lost comrades.

"Do you think his consciousness downloaded? Do you think he's still out there somewhere?" she asks, staring thoughtfully at her drink.

"I don't know. I've tried not to think about that."

"Yeah it's kinda creepy knowing that he might still be out there, isn't it?"

"But it also means that I might see my son again."

"Was he your really son, though?" She pauses. "Yeah I suppose he proved that he was, in the end, didn't he?"

"I think so," he says thoughtfully.

"Anyhow, I've got CAP first thing tomorrow, so I should get going. Good night, sir."

"Good night, Kara."

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Alone in the bunkroom, she reverently unwraps the idols as she blinks away the tears welling in her eyes.

"Lords of Kobol, hear my prayer. Take care of the real Lee Adama. I don't know if the Cylon had his own soul or not, but if he did, take care of it too."


End file.
